I have been attempting, since the beginning of February, to say the Divine Office every morning. Of course, I've been doing this with more or less success, given the day of the week, the temperature outside, the random fluctuations of the tree leaves outside my window. You know, some days Yay! Some days Not So Good.
While I normally just read it alone (no one else in THIS house is up at 5:45 a.m., I can assure you), for the past couple of weeks, I have been meeting a friend at church and saying it with him 3 mornings a week. I immensely prefer saying it with another person.
I let Don be the leader, and he reads all the scripture readings. It is a joy to sit in the church just listening to the lessons.
Today was one of those moments when I was banged upside the head by the Holy Spirit. Today's Old Testament reading was Deuteronomy 5:1-22; the Ten Commandments. And I was fine. I was sailing along, checking off my mental checklist. "Yep, good on that one. Yep, that one too."
Until we got to verse 21. Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
There. Right there. That's where the Holy Spirit smacked me.
I don't have much problem with coveting things. I don't want my neighbor's house, or his maid, or his field, or his lawnmower, or his minivan.
But what I do covet is my neighbor's cross, because his is so obviously lighter than mine. Isn't it?
I covet my neighbor's burdens, because I could deal with those. Couldn't I?
I covet my neighbor's relationship with God, because I deserve that. Don't I?
And then I flashed on something that Smock's smart and dear hubby said in one of our Bible studies. We were talking about why the path is narrow that leads to heaven and why the path is wide that leads to hell. Smockhub said something that fit in perfectly with the Holy Spirit's smackdown today. The path is narrow because it is our path. Made for one. Me. Your path is narrow, because it is meant for you. We may travel side by side in many ways. But my ups and downs are what God has decided are necessary for me to live through to achieve my sanctity, if I'm paying attention. Yes, we walk together some of the time. And part of my path may be helping you up when you fall, and you may need to kick me on down the road when I want to sit and whine.
But I can't walk my road while I'm busy looking over at yours and coveting it. "But I want what she's got. I could walk that road. It's not fair!"
So it's not just things we have to worry about coveting. It's much, much more than that.
that smock guy sounds purty smart. i bet he's sexy, too.
Wow .... wow! I am going to think about all that ... not a smackdown but just so profoundly TRUE.
this was awesome ( the first post didn't take, me thinks... )
was there a holy Spirit ladder match?
That narrow path thought is just wonderful... I will remember it.
And that is why the Church gives us so many ways to help us in our own narrow path. Some are devoted to the Rosary, others to the Liturgy of the Hours, still others to praying the Bible. Some are devoted to the Holy Face, some to the Holy Name, and others to a particular saint or having a special devotion to the Blessed Mother.
Sounds good thing to do Mama T. I find it hard enought to say a divine mercy chaplet for all my dead ones and a rosary decade for myself and huband and the needs of other living loved ones at night. I find the lazy way works for me, I lie in bed with cuddly fluffy grey cat in the crock of my arm or the sleek black purry (Maeve) one if she is in the mood and clutching my rosay beads I knock several decades. Yes I know it is not hygenic but who cares as I commend the pets and family members to Gods care and I find the black furry girl's purring very rythmic rather like a metronome counting out the beat. Its a pity she could not do the responses. The dead get the DM chaplet as if I said a decade for each of them I would never finish as I have become older these is now too many to pray for
That was good. I have often thought of the path being only one person wide, because it is Jesus who is the path. But my part of the path is only as wide as me. Jesus is directly leading me, just me.
Thank you!
Actually I don't generally covet my neighbor's cross, if I know he has one. Rather I fear it, sometimes to the degree that I think that because I fear it, God will impose it on me. Normally, however, I think my neighbor has no cross, so I covet his easy life. Everybody else is doing so much better than I am. That is, until I find out that he was laid off from his job, or his son is in jail, or his daughter got pregnant out of wedlock, or his wife has breast cancer. Then I thank God for my own burden, since it seems to fit me so well.
Wow! I love that... never thought of the path that way, thanks so much for posting it.